Nefer wrote:I saw this & really wanted to share it... wasn't quite sure where to post it, but hopefully everyone gets to read it here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6104332.stm
Feel free to post comments!
Doctor to pay for unwanted baby
A doctor who carried out a failed contraceptive operation has been ordered by a German court to pay financial support for the child.
The gynaecologist had inserted a patch into the patient's arm, but it failed to prevent pregnancy six months later.
The woman, who had recently qualified as a teacher, had to give up her new job to care for her child.
The highest judicial court has ruled the doctor must pay 600 euros (£400) a month until the child reaches 18.
German gynaecologists now fear a flood of lawsuits, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Berlin.
The decision in Karlsruhe, made on Tuesday, has met with disapproval in the German press.
The conservative Die Welt said the whole idea of damages being paid for the birth of a child was "perverse". "In addition to the highly private inkling that he was not wanted by his parents, he now has official confirmation that he was born by mistake," it said.
The device is meant to protect against pregnancy for up to three years, but six months after the operation, the implant could no longer be found in the woman's body, the court said.
The parents, who had known each other six months at the time of the conception, were no longer together, the court said.
The father will also be compensated for the maintenance he is paying for the child.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6155200.stm
Nefer wrote:I loved this article!!!
Do any of the Brit members speak it, or have you heard it? I don't think we have a similar thing Up North... Wish we did!!
Hinglish
Condoms 'too big' for Indian men
By Damian Grammaticus
BBC News, Delhi
A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.
The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.
It has led to a call for condoms of mixed sizes to be made more widely available in India.
The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Representative
Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimetre.
The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.
The conclusion of all this scientific endeavour is that about 60% of Indian men have penises which are between three and five centimetres shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.
Doctor Chander Puri, a specialist in reproductive health at the Indian Council of Medical Research, told the BBC there was an obvious need in India for custom-made condoms, as most of those currently on sale are too large.
The issue is serious because about one in every five times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears, an extremely high failure rate.
And the country already has the highest number of HIV infections of any nation.
Mr Puri said that since Indians would be embarrassed about going to a chemist to ask for smaller condoms there should be vending machines dispensing different sizes all around the country.
"Smaller condoms are on sale in India. But there is a lack of awareness that different sizes are available. There is anxiety talking about the issue. And normally one feels shy to go to a chemist's shop and ask for a smaller size condom."
'Not a problem'
But Indian men need not be concerned about measuring up internationally according to Sunil Mehra, the former editor of the Indian version of the men's magazine Maxim.
"It's not size, it's what you do with it that matters," he said.
"From our population, the evidence is Indians are doing pretty well.
"With apologies to the poet Alexander Pope, you could say, for inches and centimetres, let fools contend."
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=2439659
Human-Neanderthal link 'possible'
A skull found in a cave in Romania includes features of both modern humans and Neanderthals, possibly suggesting that the two may have interbred thousands of years ago, researchers have said.
Neanderthals were replaced by early modern humans. Researchers have long debated whether the two groups mixed together, though most doubt it. The last evidence for Neanderthals dates from at least 24,000 years ago.
The skull bearing both older and modern characteristics is discussed in a paper by Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St Louis, in the US. The report appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The skull was found in Pestera cu Oase - the Cave with Bones - in south-western Romania, along with other human remains. Radiocarbon dating indicates it is at least 35,000 years old and may be more than 40,000 years old.
The researchers said the skull had the same proportions as a modern human head and lacked the large brow ridge commonly associated with Neanderthals. However, there were also features that are unusual in modern humans, such as frontal flattening, a fairly large bone behind the ear and exceptionally large upper molars, which are seen among Neanderthals and other early hominids.
"Such differences raise important questions about the evolutionary history of modern humans," said co-author Joao Zilhao of the University of Bristol.
It could reflect a case in which ancient traits reappear in a modern human, or it could indicate a mixture of populations, Zilhao said. Or it simply may be that science has not been able to study enough early modern people to understand their diversity.
Dr Richard Potts of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History noted that the skull represents the earliest modern human ever found in Europe. It is a big deal in that sense, he said, but the combination of characteristics do not necessarily indicate interbreeding between populations.
Overall there is no strong evidence for mixing of Neanderthal and modern human populations and "this doesn't add any," said Potts, who was not part of the research team.
None of the features cited as unusual in modern humans is exclusively Neanderthal, Potts said. Rather, they could be features passed down from earlier populations in Africa.
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